December 11, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Date: October 30, 2008. Meeting commenced
at 10:00 am local time.
Location: Executive Boardroom of Jazz
Operations Centre Vancouver
Present:
Dan Kemper, Chair, CAW Pension Communications Committee Jazz Tech
Keryn Todd, Manager, Benefit Administration and Pension
Programs
Nita Shiskowski, Regional Manager, Inflight Services
Chuck MacAuley, Jazz Crew Scheduling
Bob Dufresne, CAW Pension Communication Committee Jazz CSA/ACS
Dan Brown, CAW Pension Communication Committee Jazz Maintenance
Jennifer Kalmar, Secretary/ Treasurer Canadian Flight Attendant Union
Regrets Brian Cresswell, CAW
Pension Communications Committee Jazz
Vacancy Representative for ATS
Jennifer Kalmar agreed to take minutes of this
meeting and distribute to committee members.
New Secretary to be appointed at the next meeting.
Review of previous minutes:
-Non-Members: Council members were supposed to approach employees hired before
1992 who were ‘grand fathered’ and did not have to be members of the pension.
There are approximately 175 non-members.
Committee has agreed to approach these members and have discussions with them to
encourage them to join the plan. Keryn Todd will provide a list of their names
to the committee for follow-up.
-Overtime bank accrued by CSSA’s is permitted to be put into RRSP plan. This was
negotiated.
-No other items related to old business.
New business:
1. Unlocking of locked in funds
CSSAs that were previously with Air Canada and subsequently accepted positions
at Jazz received very little pension information when they left. Their pension
was locked in with Air Canada.
-It is now possible to unlock 50% of those funds and put monies into another
RRSP plan.
-We are going to run into more employees who are going to transition from Air
Canada to jazz.
-These employees need to get their pension direction from Air Canada.
-Committee needs to direct individuals to the experts (i.e. financial planner)
rather than the committee member get involved.
-Committee had a brief discussion on the availability of health benefits after
retirement. Jazz does not sponsor benefits after retirement at this time.
-Employees are able to purchase medical coverage after retirement from medical
coverage companies i.e. Blue Cross, Great West Life and Manu Life.
-It is very expensive for companies to carry that kind of coverage, as the cost
has to be calculated and carried on their books. This is called ‘pre-funding of
future funding costs.’
2. Tax Free Savings Accounts
-These are coming into effect in January, 2009.
-$5000.00 per year is permitted in these savings accounts. The interest earned
on this account is non-taxable. (Note: monies put into this account have already
been taxed).
3. Sun Life Presentation: (Ron Carlos)
The Sun Life website is an excellent avenue for employees to view and manage
their retirement portfolio. Jazz employees participating in the Sun Life Pension
do not frequently use this site. It needs to be promoted by the committee.
Web site: www.sunlife.ca/member
Customer Care Centre: 1-866-733-8612 available 8am-8pm EST time
Investment Review
Step 1: Understanding Fund Types
Step 2: Risk versus Return
• Guaranteed fund= Low risk (interest over
fixed period of time)
• Money Market= Low Risk (short term such as Treasury Bills, less long-term
growth potential)
• Bonds: promise to repay debt, pays at rate of interest, can be either
government or corporate.
• Equities: US, Canadian and International (share in company profits, greater
long term growth, high risk= high return) companies might not perform because
of factors beyond their control i.e. hurricane, 911
• Balanced Fund: automatically provides diversification, asset classes will
perform differently at the same time. This spreads the risk.
Risk Questionnaire
Available on the Web site for pension members to do their personal risk
assessment. People should be doing this risk assessment on a yearly basis to
assess if their risk level has changed. These risk assessments can be saved
online to remind you to evaluate your asset allocation to review if you need to
rebalance your account.
Next Meeting: Wednesday April 8th, 2009 at 10:00 YVR Office